Page 39 of Cold-Blooded Creatures

Jayla choked on her bite, her giggles mixing with coughing, and the sounds of clearing throats filled the otherwise dead silence. Zion bit his fist to rein in his laughter as his shoulders shook.

Yet hearing her say my name… It was a mockery, but I craved to hear it more, nevertheless.

Shrugging off her defensive insults, I steepled my fingers. “Why don’t we play a game?”

She had better say yes. I had full intentions of tying her up and spoon-feeding her if she refused to eat.I needed her at full strength, ready to go against me, not be too starved to fight tooth and nail.

She lowered her feet and mimicked my position, a mirror-like reflection of me. “The one where you let me go?”

“The one where we will answer your questions if you eat,” I said, indicating her untouched dinner.

She scanned me intensely for any lies in my offer. Detecting none, she smoothed her incredulous expression and gave a curt nod.

I was going to answer her questions.

Not all, of course.

Because a gnawing suspicion told me that she would lose our game quickly.

14

KALI

His deal was vague. He’d answer my questions if I ate. Nothing more, nothing less.

But he didn’t agree to how many. I smiled to myself—two could play this game.

I grabbed my fork and impaled a piece of grilled carrot from the plate he’d prepared for me. It melted on my tongue, and I jerked at the explosion of sweetness in my mouth. Whatever they did to carrots here, they better kept it going. It tasted heavenly. Not like the nutritional bars in Ilasall that scratched your throat, as bland as paper and as dry as sand.

Withholding myself from taking another bite, I asked, “Where am I?” I had to make my plate last as long as possible. I wasn’t sure if I’d get another one, and if he would continue keeping up his bargain.

“The compound next to Ilasall,” Ezra piped up.

Like that explained things. “What is this compound?”

Silence.

I zeroed in on Eislyn squirming in her seat.

Her shoulders slumped in defeat. “There is no one word to describe it. It’s?—”

“Are you planning to fulfill your end of the bargain or not?” Gedeon cut her off, pointing at my fork hanging above my dinner plate.

The play of his smirk right now was in such stark contrast with when Zion had released me from his grip. He’d appeared ready to pounce and eat us alive. Chills had skated along my spine at his calculating gaze roaming our bodies.

I invited the breeze from the open windows behind my back into the marrow of my bones to cool me down. I could still feel Zion on me, his tongue exploring my mouth, his lips moving against mine. For some reason, the kiss hadn’t been repulsive. It’d felt…okay. If you could say that lightning striking your flesh, branching out down your legs and curling your toes wasokay. I savored another rush of wind tickling my back and drying off the sticky sweat. It may have been a late evening, but the lack of sun did nothing to lower the temperature to a tolerable level.

“Talk.” I stabbed a piece of some kind of meat and demonstratively stuffed it into my mouth. The tender fiber fell apart, and I moaned around the richness invading my taste buds.

The last time I’d eaten any kind of meat…had to be a year or so ago. Such wonderful perks my black wristband brought to me. Who wouldn’t prefer a meatless existence when you had those flavorless nutritional bars to sustain your life?

A clearing of a throat brought my attention to Gedeon and Zion, both watching me with such intensity—like starving animals—that I didn’t hear what Eislyn was saying. I swallowed the bite as my brain restarted.

“…to smuggle people out of the city like the other two compounds. We have the largest number of residents, as our compound was the first one founded. One day, hopefully with the help of those inside the city, we’ll take Ilasall down.”

They were working against the city. But what did they have to gain from it? Nobody did anything for free in our world. Everything had a price. I’d been paying mine since thirteen years ago and I was not willing to pay an ounce more. You couldn’t die twice, and as I had promised my life to the nightmare haunting me, I had nothing else left to give.

“You’re taking Ilasall down?” I asked, my food forgotten. I knew it was foolish to stand against Ilasall by myself, but I was already walking dead, so getting a bullet between my eyes or a knife in my throat didn’t terrify me. But if I had an army, and a ready-to-fight one… I could do more. Rain damage. Destruction. Overthrow the city’s government.